Andy Murray needs to win to give himself a chance of making Saturday’s semi-finals.

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Murray’s task is clear, a straight sets win will secure his progress. However if he drops a set or loses then things become complicated and depending on the result of Roger Federer’s match with Juan Martin Del Potro later in the day, any two of those three players could progress.

Verdasco may already be out after three set losses to Federer and Del Potro but he will be looking to finish the tournament in style before he moves on to the Davis Cup final in a week and half’s time. Having shattered Murray’s dreams of his first grand slam title at the Australian Open earlier this year, Verdasco knows he can beat the Scot on a big occasion.

However, Murray has a very comprehensive record against Verdasco, seven wins and just the one loss. He handed out a 6-1, 6-2 drubbing to the Spaniard in the Miami quarter-finals this year and beat him in three sets in Valencia on his comeback a few weeks ago.

Murray may have won that title in Valencia but he has been nowhere near his best form since he returned to the tour. He has been guilty of playing too passively especially this week. He let Federer back into their match on Tuesday and nearly did the same with Del Potro. When he played Verdasco in Valencia, the Spaniard could well have won that match if his forehand hadn’t been quite so wayward.

 “I've had letdowns in a lot of matches," Murray said. "I've let guys back in the match straight away, early in the second set. And that's something I was doing really, really well when I was playing a lot, at the beginning of the year. When I was getting ahead, I was not giving guys chances to come back into the matches. That's something that, these last few tournaments of the year, I've not done so well."

Murray is a strong 1/4 favourite with Sky Bet while Verdasco’s best odds are 7/2 with bet365.